Tag: ideas

Fridays, like any other day of the week, are great days for being Inspired!

But hold on, I hear you say, how can one be Inspired with Pants? Aren’t the best days those where pants are not in close proximity?

Well yes, I’d agree with you. But here we’re not necessarily wearing pants; we are sewing pants.

Tomorrow is the first day of a new month, which means a new Theme as per the feedback we gave ourselves. I haven’t sewn in nearly two months, so it’s time to get back to it. I’ve got a few Pants already cut, and have dreams about more.

Today, let’s look at those dreams:

Ok ok you got me… technically that’s a dream come true. But really, I LIVE in these pants. I love them so much. I’m making another pair for my mum so we can have the same pants.

But these Awesome Pants are the Inspiration for this week. Wide legged elastic waist pyjama style pants are just my thing, and in such a lovely fabric they make me comfy and happy at home, in the office, in the grocery store… wherever.

So more! More Inspiration of Wonderful Comfy Wide Legged Pants!

Clearly I’m also big on florals. I predict I’ll be wearing a lot of them this year, even if the rest of the world wore them ages ago… 😀

I have missed my blog, reading other awesome your wonderful comments, and generally being creative. While I have been busy, it’s nice to get back to doing what makes me smile while expressing myself!

One thing I was glad to catch upon re-acquainting myself with the blogging world was this great little post about creativity from Alli Rense. It came at a really timely moment for me – I was starting to feel calmer and more creative and, you know what? Writing a little Creativity ToDo List is just what I need 😀

Have I been stuck? Yep. But the fog is lifting. Hooray! So many things I want to do, so a list can help me keep it easy. Like Alli, I’ll limit myself to 5 creative things…

My Creativity ToDo List:

Finish all blue points on the Star Anise Blanket

Sew an awesome office dress

Complete and frame my 15 year old cross-stitch

Self-publish my Annual Book

Draw a still life

There are some project-style things there, but progress makes me just as happy as a finished thing!

I am totally in awe of the Sketch Club app. No more will I be in transit cataloguing ideas in my head – I can get them out and in a queue I don’t have to try to remember!

I’m still having a play with it, and the app continues to blow my mind. The possibilities!

For a fashion drawing exercise, I finally decided to draw up my croqui after reading about them over a year ago. (Here’s a handy tutorial from Lladybird!) I drew on a Hot Pink Pencil Skirt* and went to see what this app could do with fashion textures.

Well, if you looked at the image above you can see it was AWESOME. What’s even better is you can create your own textures!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!

If you have an iPad, you can download it here. You don’t have to sign up to their community to get started – when I explore all of its features I’ll be sure to let you know! Sadly they don’t seem to have an Android option so I’ll have to hunt again when I switch back in a month or two.

In the meantime, stay creative!
Xx

* Note I already have two since learning how to sew and after this exercise it seems I’m in for a few more.

The Force was with me this month and I’ve been really busy and pretty productive. However not particularly productive with crafty business, so I haven’t had much to say there. But not to worry, there’s been no shortage of ideas!

I wouldn’t say it holds a candle to any other of the awesomeInstagrampicsI’veseen, but what is does show is AWESOME FABRIC I GOT FROM AN OP SHOP FOR $15 TODAY AND GUESS WHAT THERE’S 6.5 METRES OF IT!!!

*does a little dance*

As I was walking away from the shop and back to the office job my mind stopped whirring when it reached the conclusion:

When I learned to crochet back in 2010, I didn’t stop. I loved it. One weekend while in Perth, I ran out of ‘travel’ wool and demanded to be shown the nearest craft department store.

Having received my wish, I chose some cheap fun yarns (I was still learning and had not yet discovered the true joy of beautiful and soft yarns) and continued hooking happily. This was made from one of those fun yarns:

My idea baffled the people we were visiting. They couldn’t understand why I wanted an extremely long and thin scarf. I knew though.

In fact, I now think this is such a fantastic beginner project that I wrote the pattern out to share with you!

Download away and have fun! I only ask that you also use this pattern for fun – go crazy for friends, family and yourself, any non-commercial project you like 🙂

If you do make this, I’d love to see your creations! Post a pic on your blog and feel free to leave a comment linking to it on here. One of the great joys of being online is just plain ol’ sharing! 😀

Sometimes you find something at the bottom of your craft box and suddenly realise why you hadn’t thrown it out years ago.

Cheap stretch velvet never looked so good!

This cowl was super easy and fun to make – and I actually got the inspiration from a scarf I saw in a Melbourne department store one weekend away.

It was one of those things: ‘Ooh I like that…’ *pick it up, look at it, put it on, look for a mirror, admire, take it off, hunt for price tag…* ‘Oh dear I could make that so easily…’ *put it back on rack, wander off, look at shiny things, walk back, pick it up, inspect closely, take a phone snapshot, try it on again, put it back, walk away…* ‘Yeah I’ll make that.’

Happiness and love just seem to be major themes in my crafting. Everything I make contains large chunks of it at some point of its process – something that I’ve found is a huge contribution to my overall sanity!

This scarf is no exception! This scarf is very special to me. You see, this one has been kicking around in some form since I was 15 years old, and that was quite some time ago now.

At that age, I went to Japan with my family. One day while a little bit lost in Kyoto, we decided to take a short-cut through a park. Inside the park we were lucky to find a flea market! It wasn’t in any of our guide books so it seemed to us we had stumbled onto a local event.

In one stall, a woman was selling second hand kimono and fabric scraps. We bought some obi, kimono and haori (which come to think of it I should share with you at some point!) and a bag of fabric scraps as souvenirs.

This bag kicked around in my crafty stash for more than 10 years. Then all at once, this scarf was conceived! It’s now one of my favourites, with a forest green velvet backing and long black fringe.

Here’s another old favourite my late grandmother made for me. I started this along with the Mega Long White Knit Scarf, but Grandma didn’t frog this one. She simply tut-tuted my amatuer joining technique and carried on for me 🙂

Nearly every time I wear it someone asks if it’s my Dr Who scarf… which drew a blank on me the first few times! I didn’t know he had one, and now that I actually look at it I wonder why people think it’s similar… (In my searches though I did find this awesome site about making your own Dr Who Scarf!!)

So now, this is not a Dr Who scarf. However, I did make it to help me feel happy on drab days so it is indeed my Dr Rainbow Scarf.

I do love it, but its made of acrylic yarn so it’s not particularly nice on the skin. Maybe this year I crochet myself the adult version of it 🙂